Guidance, ideas and examples to support schools in developing their curriculum, pedagogy, enrichment and support for more able learners, within a whole-school context of cognitively challenging learning for all. Includes ideas to support curriculum development, and practical examples, resources and ideas to try in the classroom. Popular topics include: curriculum development, enrichment, independent learning, questioning, oracy, resilience, aspirations, assessment, feedback, metacognition, and critical thinking.
Lol Conway, Curriculum Consultant and Trainer for the Design and Technology Association
Throughout my teaching, inclusivity has always been at the forefront of my mind – ensuring that all students can access learning, feel included, and thrive. Like many of my fellow teachers, at the start of my teaching career my focus was often directed towards supporting SEND or disadvantaged students, for example. I have come to realise, to my dismay, that more able students were not high up in my consideration. I thought about them, but often as an afterthought – wondering what I could add to challenge them. Of course, it should always be the case that all students are considered equally in the planning of lessons and curriculum progression and this should not be dictated by changes in school data or results. Inclusivity should be exactly that – for everyone.
True inclusivity for more able students isn’t about simply adding extra elements or extensions to lessons, much in the same way that inclusivity for students with learning difficulties isn’t about simplifying concepts. Instead, it’s about structuring lessons from the outset in a way that ensures all students can access learning at an appropriate level.
I realised that my approach to lesson planning needed to change to ensure I set high expectations and included objectives that promoted deep thinking. This ensured that more able students were consistently challenged whilst still providing structures that supported all learners. It is imperative that teachers have the confidence and courage to relentlessly challenge at the top end and are supported with this by their schools.
As a Design and Technology (D&T) teacher, I am fortunate that our subject naturally fosters higher-order thinking, with analysis and evaluation deeply embedded in the design process. More able students can benefit from opportunities to tackle complex, real-world problems, encouraging problem-solving and interdisciplinary connections. By integrating these elements into lessons, we can create an environment where every student, including the most able, is stretched and engaged. However, more often than not, these kinds of skills are not always nurtured at KS3.
Maximizing the KS3 curriculum
The KS3 curriculum is often overshadowed by the annual pressures of NEA and examinations at GCSE and A-Level, often resulting in the inability to review KS3 delivery due to the lack of time. However, KS3 holds immense potential. A well-structured KS3 curriculum can inspire and motivate students to pursue D&T while also equipping them with vital skills such as empathy, critical thinking, innovation, creativity, and intellectual curiosity.
To enhance the KS3 delivery of D&T, the Design and Technology Association has developed the Inspired by Industry resource collection – industry-led contexts which provide students with meaningful learning experiences that go beyond theoretical knowledge. We are making these free to all schools this year, to help teachers deliver enhanced learning experiences that will equip students with the skills needed for success in design and technology careers.
By connecting classroom projects to real-world industries, students gain insight into the practical applications of their learning, fostering a sense of purpose and motivation. The focus shifts from achieving a set outcome to exploring the design process and industry relevance. This has the potential to ‘lift the lid’ on learning, helping more able learners to develop higher-order skills and self-directed enquiry.
These contexts offer a diverse range of themes, allowing students to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world scenarios while developing a deeper understanding of the subject and industry processes. Examples include:
Creating solutions that address community issues such as poverty, education, or homelessness using design thinking principles to drive positive change;
Developing user-friendly, inclusive and accessible designs for public spaces, products, or digital interfaces that accommodate people with disabilities;
Designing eco-friendly packaging solutions that consider materials, manufacturing processes, and end-of-life disposal.
These industry-led contexts foster independent discovery and limitless learning opportunities, particularly benefiting more able students. By embedding real-world challenges into the curriculum, we can push the boundaries of what students can achieve, ensuring they are not just included but fully engaged and empowered in their learning journey.
Find out more…
NACE is partnering with the Design & Technology Association on a free live webinar on Wednesday 4 June 2025, exploring approaches to challenge all learners in KS3 Design & Technology. Register here.
NACE Research & Development Director Dr Ann McCarthy explores the evolution of remote assessment over the past 12 months, and the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Over the past year schools have been developing remote learning solutions. These are systems, platforms, methods, or tools that enable remote learning. As the year progressed the quality and flexibility of these have improved. The need for improvement does not reflect teachers’ commitment at the start of the first lockdown, but the limitations caused by available technology, training in the use of the technology, and pupils’ access levels.
In October 2020, the Department for Education stated that all children attending state-funded schools must be given immediate access to remote education if they needed to self-isolate, or if restrictions required pupils to stay at home. Schools were expected to have a contingency plan in place for remote education so that pupils had access to meaningful and ambitious work every day. Provision was to include online tools which allow for interaction, assessment and feedback and high-quality online and offline resources and teaching videos. To support this, they aimed to increase pupils’ access to the internet and introduced Oak Academy.
By March 2021, schools were in a much better position to provide high-quality remote learning, having developed a variety of solutions. Live (synchronous) learning takes place when schools have videoconferencing in place for real-time lessons. Dependent on the age of the pupils and the availability of technology both within the school and at home this may be for a few short sessions each week or for all lessons. Self-paced (asynchronous) learning is also being used. This may utilise technologies such as recorded videos, teaching software, quizzes, games or TV programmes. This may also use more traditional learning tools such as textbooks, worksheets or other written or practical activities which do not make immediate use of a computer. Asynchronous learning enables pupils to work on the same work as others in the class but with more control over when they study and how long they spend on each task.
How effective is remote learning?
The EEF's Rapid Evidence Assessment on Distance Learning stated that teaching quality is more important than how lessons are delivered. The EEF found that there was no real difference between synchronous and asynchronous teaching. If all elements of effective teaching are present and teaching builds clearly on pupils’ prior learning, then pupils will learn well.
The EEF found that peer interactions and support for pupils to work independently can both provide motivation and improve learning outcomes. They did, however, note that ensuring access to technology is key, especially for disadvantaged pupils, and this has been seen to be a problem throughout the lockdown periods. Teachers have also had to be aware that different approaches to remote learning suit different types of content and pupils. One strength of remote learning is that it also provides more opportunities for pupils to take more control of their learning and as such they might also engage in a greater degree of individual learning where they can follow their own learning interests or study a whole-class topic in a different way or in greater depth.
Assessment principles when learning remotely
The wide range of possible teaching input, learning access, learning engagement, home support and learning output has led to greater consideration of assessment: its purpose; use and reliability. The Ofsted Handbook (2019) states that: “When used effectively, assessment helps pupils to embed knowledge and use it fluently and assists teachers in producing clear next steps for pupils.” The headteachers’ standards (2020) require headteachers to ensure “valid, reliable and proportionate approaches are used when assessing pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the curriculum”.
The principles are important, but when moving from classroom contact to remote contact teachers and leaders have had to resolve some practical issues. So, how and what do you assess when learning is remote? In some schools, adaptive software is in use for elements of the curriculum. This responds to pupils’ online learning and adapts the content and practice accordingly. This enables the teacher to monitor learning and focus on in depth one-to-one support. In other environments nonadaptive software is used to set the tasks but the teacher must monitor the learning outcomes closely. What must not be lost in the drive to use remote learning and technology to support this is the place of assessment in the learning process.
“Pay particular attention to securing alignment between curriculum, assessment and teaching, and of these to the school’s ambitious goals for pupils.” – NPQH Framework (2020)
The Chartered College (2020) recognises the challenges related to moving from classroom to remote assessment and feedback. They show the principles of good feedback and assessment can still apply if they are reframed to fit this new context. When planning learning activities assessment must be considered in relation to the possible outputs and the potential of the output being the work not solely of the individual student concerned.
The Chartered College’s Distance Learning Resource Pack (2020; member login required) provides some clear tips about successful remote feedback and assessment, including:
Assessment should be purposeful and provides meaningful, actionable information.
Questions should help the teacher to assess what pupils have learned already and where they might need some more support, as well as helping them to test their own learning.
Students should help to design questions, as they will revise study material while they put together a question board.
Students should know when tests are low stakes or no stakes and understand that these are only used to help learning.
Structured responses, prompts and partially completed templates may be helpful for pupils working without a teacher.
Hinge questions can be used to check understanding and allow pupils to move on or receive further support.
Multiple-choice questions with well-planned incorrect answers allow teachers to spot common misconceptions.
In online learning sessions, prepared questions and use of the chat function, whole group or individual responses promote engagement and tracking.
A daily ‘big idea’ question supported by multiple smaller questions can provide the teacher with information about engagement and learning.
Pupils need feedback, which should be task-specific, providing a clear direction. Verbal feedback can be beneficial as an alternative to written feedback. Feedback on independent work is particularly important.
Self- and peer-assessment remains an important part of the assessment process with the use of group chat or breakout rooms and shared learning.
The Chartered College’s report on effective approaches to distance learning (2021) states that “formative assessment is crucial in providing regular feedback to help students improve and to inform future teaching. Therefore, in order to maintain academic achievement, it is important that this continues to take place during distance and blended learning. During distance learning, teachers are less able to rely on incidental formative assessment opportunities and, therefore, will have to be more systematic and intentional about how and when assessment will take place.”
When planning for remote learning, some assessments only need minor adjustment but others need to be completely changed to reflect the change in teaching methods and potentially changes in the learning sequence. Teachers have had to revisit the intended learning outcomes and the assessment strategies needed to measure these. They also must protect academic integrity. The Department for Education (2020) suggested the use of dedicated software for questioning and discussion, and live feedback and marking.
Remote assessment practice reported by NACE member schools
NACE members were invited to respond to a survey on their practice in assessing remote learning, with a particular focus on provision for more able learners. NACE schools provided feedback on their remote assessment practices and the resources used to support these.
When using synchronous practices, teachers reported using online discussion, questioning, the use of the chat function, live view of written work and live marking of work. Assessment of asynchronous learning included low stakes quizzes either produced by the teacher or created by dedicated software, online assessment tools, e-portfolios, work uploaded and marked using a learning platform, and work assessed via email. In some schools the technology makes it possible to live view or mark as well as marking and returning work. This is more often seen with older pupils. Online assessment tools have enabled teachers to provide individual or whole-class feedback and use outcomes to inform planning.
Where pupils have greater opportunities for independent learning, they are likely to be engaged in longer-term projects, essays, or research activities. These tasks are more likely to utilise greater detail in assessment criteria being shared with the pupils and more opportunities for individual feedback. For these and other tasks, GRIT (growth resilience independent task) pupil responses are used to help them to understand and develop their own learning.
The choices made in each school are driven by ethos and existing policies and procedures, but they have been rolled out in accordance with the circumstances. In general, schools report that they are using the available advice from EEF and others. They have had to make choices about the technology being used, including the means of communication, learning platforms, and other online resources. They have then had to make this work based on the availability of technology in pupils’ homes and their ability to engage with the technology.
Many teachers confirmed that pupil voice is effective in assessing during remote learning, especially when learners have been working independently. Teachers have tried many different approaches to assessment and feedback. Peer interaction during remote learning can motivate pupils and improve outcomes. Assessment strategies using peer marking and feedback, sharing models of good work, and opportunities for live discussions of content, are possible and are reported to be increasingly effective as pupils get older.
Feedback to pupils has varied according to the task and between schools. This ranged from a comment “well done” to detailed written feedback. The use of success criteria continues to be important when giving feedback on tasks. Some teachers have given open-ended feedback as they would in a class situation. This has enabled them to adapt and differentiate work to the unique situations of the children as well as their ability. Others have been calling pupils to answer questions raised in online chat, to address outcomes in activities such as group agree/disagree questioning, online quizzes, or independent work. Online comments at the end of a piece of work have been shared with pupils. Emails have been sent to parents where children do not access online learning.
This range of responses reflects the range of practice and the differences in access to technology, training in the use of technology and home learning environments. Where possible, the methods used for teaching, learning assessment and feedback are like those used in class as this provides consistency and stability to the pupils when they are not in school.
Opportunities and concerns when using remote learning
Considering the advice available to schools, the increased availability of internet access, learning platforms and dedicated software, one might assume that there is an equitable learning experience for all pupils. Schools have invested in a distance learning infrastructure and are now able to provide a blended learning approach which will enable pupils to make progress. However, what pupils learn, how quickly they progress and their depth of understanding are not necessarily the same as they would be in school. Pupils spend most of their remote learning time working independently and may not have home support.
NACE member schools have recognised the range of responses to home learning from pupils. Some more able pupils thrive in an environment where they can manage their day and their learning. Home learning provides pupils with time to reflect and research so that mastery, analytical skills, and problem solving can be developed. Not all pupils cope with these greater freedoms and many miss the collaborative nature of the classroom where they can enhance their learning by engaging in cognitive discourse. Others lack resilience or the metacognitive skills needed to learn without the support of the teacher. Teachers raised concerns that some pupils may have developed gaps in learning and understanding. Others were concerned that there was learning fatigue and that continued remote learning impacts on the health and wellbeing of the pupils.
Challenges when using remote assessment
Within a classroom environment visual clues are often used to assess understanding and learners’ confidence, but these are not easy to establish through online learning. When engaged in remote learning, teachers find it more difficult or impossible to use the normal assessment practice of tracking learners' work and assessing their progress in skills. One major barrier to assessment is that teachers do not know the level of support each learner receives at home from family members. Some pupils receive significant input and have considerable access to additional learning materials, support and guidance. Other pupils work in isolation and lack any additional resources, support or learning capital which would enable them to respond well to learning tasks. These differences not only impact on the quality of learning, but also on the teacher’s understanding of what pupils know, understand and can do independently.
A second issue related to assessment and reported by NACE member schools was that not all pupils engage with or complete the work. Written work completed at home is not always submitted and when it is the teacher is not always clear as to whether the child completed the work independently.
Some schools report difficulties in the assessment of foundation phase learning based on outcome alone, which is what is seen from remote learning, particularly for those with limited access to online sessions and activities. Normal assessment practice would be far more fluid and formative questioning part and parcel of the process. This is far more difficult to achieve remotely, especially where parents are present and 'supporting' the child by answering for them.
How does this apply to more able pupils?
The surveyed NACE schools recognised the many difficulties and pitfalls in providing remote learning and assessment. Despite this they remained committed to high-quality provision which embraces assessment as an integral part of the process. As one member commented: “This is very much a work in progress and we are learning as we go, always striving to improve.”
NACE's research suggests that cognitively challenging learning environments are dependent upon curriculum design, management of learning and cognitive discourse (read more here).
In planning learning for more able pupils, schools have made best use of available technology and have adapted the curriculum to reflect the new learning environment. They have created new learning opportunities and adapted existing ones, but cannot manage all aspects of the pupils’ home learning experiences. Some more able learners do not have the same learning advantages as others and as such there will be difference in outcomes and in the responses to assessment measures. The greatest difficulty in using remote learning and assessment to develop cognitively challenging learning for more able pupils results from the absence of rich and extended talk and cognitive discourse which would be found in the classroom. Short periods of engagement online cannot generate the quality of language which would be present in the classroom throughout the day.
Returning to school: what next?
As pupils and teachers return to face-to-face teaching and learning there is much to consider. How will teachers use the assessments undertaken during remote learning to plan for next steps and to resolve any lost learning or misconceptions? Will disadvantaged more able pupils have the same opportunities to achieve as others whose learning has progressed well? Where more able pupils have taken their learning beyond the expected standard, will they have opportunities to continue to deepen learning having returned to a classroom environment?
Teachers are now tasked with the challenge of managing learning recovery, assessment and new learning simultaneously, while rebuilding the relationships and expectations of the classroom.
Assessment of learning summer 2021
As pupils return to school there is another issue related to assessment. Pupils due to complete a course of study this year will have an assessed outcome which is no longer linked to a final examination. Where the remote assessment is well-established and provides a direct link to what has been learnt, teachers will be able to report on pupils’ learning accurately. However, in many schools, pupils will return to school to face a series of activities which provide evidence of what they know. Pupils’ qualifications this year will be based on school assessments.
“Teachers must assess their students’ performance, only on what content has been delivered to them by their teachers, to determine the grade each student should receive.” “Heads of centres will have to confirm that students have been taught sufficient content to allow progression to the next stage of their education.” – Ofqual (2021)
Teachers have increasingly recognised the importance of creating a link between curriculum, planning, teaching, learning and assessment. Is this examination requirement going to mean that pupils spend more time having their learning measured at the expense of developing as learners? How could the examination system work so that it fits with the way in which teaching and learning takes place?
We will continue to consider these inter-related issues as we explore assessment methodology, opportunities, limitations and next steps for more able learners.
With thanks to all the NACE member schools who have so far contributed to our work in this area. To share your own experience, please contact communications@nace.co.uk.
Despite and also because of what is happening around us currently, we are returning to the big questions in education – what should schools be teaching, and how should we assess that on a day-to-day basis and for the purposes of public accountability and progression throughout all phases of education?
All the big questions are complex, but assessment is a particularly devilish one. It raises issues of course such as what we should be assessing (and ‘measuring’) and when, but also of how to reflect the different rates of progress and the learning capacities of different young people, of how to assess skills as well as knowledge, and of the place of current and possible future technologies in educational assessment. Assessment must also address wider questions of educational equity.
The smaller questions are also important – of how everyday formative and summative assessment practices in all classrooms, real and virtual, can be as effective as possible. All teachers must become as proficient in assessment as they are in pedagogy – two sides of the same coin. We return therefore to the central importance of high-quality, evidence-informed professional development and evaluation and planning tools for schools.
Your chance to contribute: NACE member survey
NACE has a keen interest in contributing to the debate about how everyday assessment practices and public accountability systems may be improved and reformed to the benefit of all learners, including the most able. As an organisation serving schools directly, we plan to start by looking at aspects which have current and practical application for teachers, informing the development of resources (including enhancement of the NACE Curriculum Audit Tool) and training programmes to support schools. Our engagement will also take account of the rapidly evolving context in which schools are working, and of the importance of improving day-to-day formative and summative assessment practices.
Our initial focus will be on:
The assessment of remote learning;
Assessment literacies and practices to promote the learning of more able pupils.
Both areas will of course make reference to issues of educational equity.
As a membership organisation we very much want to involve our members in our work on assessment, and to that end we are inviting members to respond to an online survey focusing on remote feedback and assessment. This will be used alongside a review of emerging best practice and theory in everyday assessment practices, including assessment of remote learning. Your survey contributions will be an important part of our work in this area, and we will feed the initial results back, so that you can benefit from others’ experiences. .
To contribute, please complete the survey by 4 February 2021.
For all of us in the teaching profession, September 2020 has been a return to school we are unlikely to forget for many years. Amongst the struggles, anxieties and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the UK have reopened to all pupils, and teachers have found themselves at the centre of media and political scrutiny as they attempt to craft and deliver a ‘recovery curriculum’ for learners. There is a balance required between addressing and supporting pupil wellbeing, whilst assessing the impact of four months of school closure on educational attainment. As much as I read about ‘lost time’, ‘regression’ and ‘recovery’, the reality of being back in the classroom has, for me, brought about many different questions: Where are these learners at now? How can I best support them? And perhaps more importantly, do I need to change my expectations of where they should be and how well they will progress? These questions are all pertinent for more able learners, many of whom have worked consistently and independently at home throughout the lockdown.
I find myself thinking… no. Perhaps a ‘recovery curriculum’ is not what these children really need. Instead, do learners need the consistency they have come to expect from their teachers and schooling? A consistency of “keeping standards high for everyone” (Sherrington, p148) will ensure that our expectations of all learners, and particularly our more able learners, are behind all the decisions we make regarding curriculum. I am reminded of a TES article I read in April 2020 headlined ‘Dumb down at your peril!’ As practitioners, we need to ensure that we do not inadvertently add to the time lost by lowering our standards and expectations of learners. If learning really does “require forgetting” (Wiliam, 2016) then the classroom becomes an exciting place for innovation this year as we are able to move learners forward in a new way, ensuring our teaching focus is on moving forward, rather than looking back. (For additional perspectives on this, take a look at NACE’s free “beyond recovery” resource pack.)
Here are five practical ways I’ve been putting this approach into practice:
1.Encourage learners to explore and share their passions
For many more able learners, the time spent at home will have been a positive experience. The additional time to explore their passions (reading, writing, painting, problem solving) and really delve into areas of interest is something that school often struggles to provide. I believe that our “curriculum is more than the lessons” (Waters, 2020) and so taking the time to talk with more able learners about their experiences during lockdown is vital. This insight allows us to plan tasks where the pupil becomes the expert, e.g. the learner leading a class session, teaching others about their talent, sharing their work (writing, art) or creating a ‘how to’ guide/video which can be used by their peers. (I’ve found this has been particularly successful with classroom mathematics and learners with sporting talent.)
2.Draw on current events to develop independent thought and debate
Many more able learners are likely to have high levels of interest in contemporary issues surrounding the pandemic. In my experience, these children (even at age 10 and 11) are beginning to form and question their own opinions, undertaking their own research, watching the news and reading online, and engaging in discussion (often with adults) at home. Harnessing these issues in the classroom provides an opportunity to teach “creative and critical thinking” (one of the 12 pedagogical approaches required in the new Curriculum for Wales 2022 – read more here), and provides an excellent stimulus and authentic context for many cross-curricular skills, e.g. debating, evaluating information sources and identifying bias.
3.Explore digital teaching and learning, together
The new Welsh Curriculum also requires teachers to use a “blend of approaches” in the classroom (12 Pedagogical Principles CfW 2022). For many learners, particularly more able learners, the opportunity to use digital technology as part of their everyday ‘learning diet’ (Waters, 2020) has been exciting and for me, it has been an element of lockdown I am determined to sustain in my classroom. We have, together, explored new software and learnt new skills, with the children often emailing me to say “Miss, I found a much easier way of doing this…” There is always the risk that it can feel intimidating as the teacher to admit that the learners may be ahead of us. However, in my experience, it is an incredibly motivating concept for learners, particularly more able learners, as they are keen to share and model their learning for me and for others.
4. Embrace the challenge: make it harder!
Mary Myatt’s words struck such a chord with me – a chord that has resonated all the more since returning to school: “What do most children want? … Harder work!”
With my head swimming with ‘recovery’, ‘catch-up’ and ‘back-filling’, I approached my planning this year with some trepidation. Lesson three of the maths scheme we use at school presented learners with a Chinese counting frame, unlike anything I had ever seen, as a tool to develop place value understanding. My first thought on looking at the lesson was, “Perhaps I will miss that one out!” I convinced myself that I could justify skipping the lesson as we had missed so much and I could give myself and the learners an easy ‘get-out’ of this lesson. However, troubled by that looming TES headline, I reflected on ways I could make the lesson approachable… could the learners potentially reach the ‘hard’ lesson? With some additional planning time, the use of some highly effective concrete manipulatives (Skittles and chocolate buttons) and the shift in my own mindset to embrace the challenge, the children rose to and exceeded my expectations – understanding the lesson, completing the work and craving “some more hard lessons please!”
5.Continue to strengthen links with parents and carers
Finally, the time spent home-learning has provided us with a unique opportunity to engage with parents and carers in a different way. The contact we have had with parents, providing academic and in many cases emotional support, has strengthened our relationships with the home, and for our more able learners this can be such a valuable additional tool. I have been able to recommend reading material from nominee lists for awards, provide challenging maths activities online (such as The Daily Rigour) and work one-to-one as an editor for a learner who wanted to write her own novel at home!
Furthermore, I have gained an additional team of experts in the parents of my class, drawing on their skills, career paths and interests to enhance the curriculum provision in my classroom.
References
Myatt. M., Curriculum Thinking: A Masterclass, 16.10.19
Sherrington. T., The Learning Rainforest, 2017
Waters. M., Seminar: From the big picture to the finer detail, 13.03.20
Wiliam. D., The nine things every teacher should know, 2016 (summary available here)
When thinking about the future of any part of the economy and society, most futurists will start by looking back. The reason for this is quite simple. First, it is important to understand the journey to where we are now, or where we think we are. Second, it helps us focus on past predictions about what would happen that did not and why. Finally, it helps understand if the sector being considered has taken full advantage of long-term trends and that trend has run out of steam, or still has a while to go.
Much hype in the tech sector over the last decade and more has been around “big data”. Since the exam chaos of the summer, there has been an increased interest in alternatives to the current systems of assessment and certifications. One topic, learning analytics, has been growing in interest in my email and social media conversations since lockdown. This is the “big data” in education movement in one of its manifestations.
Here, I want to look at the wider issues of data in education by contrasting my school years (the 1960s) with today.
Try this as a little exercise. Think of a year between 1990 and 2015. Now choose a F1 Grand Prix race. Then Google “winner 1997 Monaco Grand Prix” with your chosen years and race substituted for mine. In less than a minute from start to finish you can get the answer.
Now back in the 1960s, maybe some people would have had sports annuals and could look the answer up. Maybe you had a racing nut among your friends who would know the answer. If not, a trip to a local library which may or may not have had a book with the answer, during opening hours. Most people would have given up.
Note: it does not matter whether you are interested or expert in F1; the answer is available on demand.
So, the first question I want to pose to educationalists is this:
“How has what is taught, how it is taught and assessed changed to take advantage of the widespread availability of data on demand?”
This growth of availability also brings new challenges.
First, different cultures have different answers to the same questions. Try asking Siri who invented television. The Americans claim Philo Farnsworth. As you enter Helensburgh in the West Coast of Scotland the welcome sign says, “Birthplace of John Logie Baird, inventor of television”. Who is correct?
Add to this various conspiracy theories around COVID-19, vaccines, 5G and many more issues: the need for information literacy among teachers and pupils is clear if we are to benefit and minimise risk over this vast treasure trove of data.
So, my second question is this:
“Where in the school curriculum is this challenge addressed to ensure our youngsters have the skills to navigate the data landscape?”
If we try a more complex question, the possibilities become apparent. Jane Austen’s garden at Chawton House was laid out last time I visited using only plants that were known in England while she was alive. “What flowers were introduced into the UK during the life of Jane Austen?” would have been a PhD thesis back in the 1960s.
In an area of your own interest, think of a similar question when you have 30 minutes spare and research it online. Having worked in the industry for decades, it is amazing still to be astonished at what is available now – with all the necessary caveats about quality.
It is in this last area – quality of information – that I think support for the most able learners has the most potential. Rather than focus on teaching them against a fixed syllabus, there is potential for giving them learning challenges and developing their research capabilities and skills to discriminate among the contested claims in the information they can discover for themselves.
If interested, spend half an hour looking at the history of flight online. It is an extraordinary tale from ancient times, not just a story of the 20th century and the Wright brothers.
Online learning is not the same as online teaching.
Over 20 years ago I remember a young lad, who was a troubled individual, researching and building a history of boxing project of his own volition. His pride in demonstrating what he had discovered for himself and his desire to articulate and share his story changed his teacher’s perceptions of him.
So, here is my third question – and challenge – for you, dear reader:
“How can schools develop in the 2020s so that all our children have the skills to use the avalanche of data available on demand to stretch their imagination, creativity and learning?”
Under this there are many questions that need to be addressed, around curriculum, assessment, resources, inclusion, and importantly professional development.
In my talk at NACE’s upcoming Leadership Conference (16-20 November 2020) I will be developing this and other themes to encourage us all to imagine what schooling needs to be post-pandemic to tackle the challenges we all face as parents, teachers and citizens.
Join the conversation… NACE patron Dr Chris Yapp will lead a session at NACE’s 2020 Leadership Conference exploring how schools can optimise the use of digital technologies to extend, enrich and develop independent pursuit of learning. View the full conference programme.
In the opening weeks of this term, we held two online meetups for NACE members – focused on exploring challenges and opportunities in the current context, sharing ideas and experiences with peers, and identifying priorities and core principles for the coming weeks and months.
While acknowledging the significant differences in the experiences of both students and staff members over the past six months, the two sessions also highlighted some strong common themes and key messages:
1. Humanity first and teaching first
While wellbeing is and should remain a priority, NACE Associate Neil Jones makes the case that for more able learners, study is in fact an intrinsic part of their humanity. The meetups highlighted the need to focus on restoring learners’ confidence and self-belief; reinstating healthy and effective learning routines; showing care, calm and confidence in learners’ abilities and futures; continuing to consider the needs of the more able in planning and practice (and supporting colleagues to do so); maintaining high expectations and ambitions; and being aware of the risk of learning becoming “endless” for the more able (particularly in remote/independent learning).
2. Assess, but don’t add stress
While meetup attendees agreed on the importance of understanding where students are and identifying gaps in learning, they also emphasised the importance of achieving this without creating additional pressure, either for staff or learners. Take time over this, building in low-/no-stakes assessment, regular verbal feedback, and involving students in the process of identifying where they feel more/less confident and what they need to do next.
3. Stay ambitious in teaching and learning
A recurrent message from the meetups was the importance of remaining ambitious in teaching and learning – balancing the need to pare back/streamline without narrowing the curriculum or lowering expectations, and auditing deficits without leaping to remedial/deficit thinking. Key ideas shared included a focus on meaningful tasks; teaching to where learners could be now; choosing language carefully to inspire, excite and set high expectations; finding ways to incorporate hands-on as well as theoretical learning; finding opportunities for collaboration; and prioritising dialogic teaching and learning – recognising the loss of rich language exchange during school closures.
4.Continue to build on “lessons from lockdown”
Both sessions also highlighted the many innovative practices developed during school closures, many of which will be retained and further developed. Examples included the use of technology and/or project-based learning to support learners in working both independently and in collaboration with one another.
Finally, the meetups reinforced the importance of engaging and listening to students – involving them in conversations about their experience, interests and passions, and making them part of the creative, innovative thinking and discussion that will help schools and individuals continue to move forward positively. Or as NACE Associate Dr Keith Watson has written, “Not merely recovering, but rebounding and reigniting with energy, vigour and a celebration of talents.”
For more on these key messages and other ideas explored during the meetups, watch the recordings:
NACE member meetups are free to attend for all NACE members, offering opportunities to connect and share ideas with peers across the UK and beyond, as well as hearing from NACE Associates and leading schools.
Not yet a NACE member? Starting at just £95 +VAT per year, NACE membership is available for schools (covering all staff), SCITT providers, TSAs, trusts and clusters. Members have access to advice, practical resources and CPD to support the review and improvement of provision for more able learners within a context of challenge and high standards for all. Find out more.
This article was originally published in our “beyond recovery” resource pack. View the original version here.
In the context of “recovering” teaching and learning at secondary level, I want to suggest that the principles of working with the most able learners remain the same. The crisis – as crises do – has provoked polarised responses: Tiggerish optimism about opportunities to change the way education works on the one hand; Eeyorish despair on the other, doubting whether anything can be recovered during or after this hiatus.
There is no doubt that this crisis has brought disasters with it for young people and their secondary education. But crises reveal, in a sharp and heightened way, what is already the case. It remains the case that schools need:
To include the most able students explicitly in their thinking, for those students’ benefit and the benefit of all;
To use current technology (the word “new” gives away how slow we can be), intelligently and responsively, to enable excellent work from the most able students, independently and collaboratively;
To remember that teaching and learning, with the most able and with all students, is fundamentally a human relationship, not a consumer transaction.
Below are some suggestions that you may already be considering as you gear up to get back into the secondary classroom.
1. Take “accelerated learning” seriously – but don’t use it as “cramming”.
Tony Breslin, in the draft preface of his forthcoming book Lessons from Lockdown: the educational legacy of COVID-19 (Routledge, to be published end of 2020 / beginning of 2021), writes: "from a societal and educational standpoint, post-virus rehabilitation is not about how quickly we can get back to where we were. Nor is it about reconstituting our schools in the image of ‘crammer’ colleges, obsessed by catch-up and curriculum recovery, as if all the last few months have left us with is a shortcoming in knowledge and a loss of coverage." [Emphasis mine]
This is an important point, worth serious reflection. Teachers and most parents will understandably be anxious to make up for lost time and lost learning, particularly those whose children and students are at the pinch points of transition between key stages. Breslin continues: "Rather, it is about how far we can travel in light of our shared experience, and the different educational and training needs that will surely manifest themselves in the years ahead. It is also about acknowledging those longstanding shortcomings at the heart of our schooling and education systems, around persistent inequalities of outcome, around the need to build inclusion and attainment alongside each other rather than posing them as different and sometimes conflicting opposites, and around attending to the wellbeing of children, their families and all who support their learning – as if we could build a sustainable education system without doing this." [Emphases mine]
Most teachers would agree, surely, with the wisdom here. “Cramming” or force-feeding our students course content as if we were fattening geese, would be horribly stressful, and pedagogically ineffective in the long term. Yet there is an opportunity for us, instead of “cramming”, to take accelerated learning very seriously indeed.
In his article exploring current priorities and opportunities for primary schools, NACE Associate Dr Keith Watson highlights Mary Myatt’s insistence on professionals paring back course content to the essentials. He is, of course, right to point out the dangers of narrowing the curriculum even further. As an English teacher, I understand why the GCSE exam boards have elected to remove poetry from the exams, but it chills my blood to think of the lost potential for thought, feeling and understanding that this represents – particularly for our more able students.
I do wonder, though, whether we now have an opportunity to introduce just a little more urgency – but not panic – into teaching and learning. Accelerated learning strategies aim to achieve both inclusion and attainment in learning, in the ways that NACE has advocated for so many years: help your most able students to go as far and fast as they can; teach to the top, support from the bottom, and so on. This approach should still be used; we will just have to use it on less material. Don’t over-rehearse, i.e. don’t plan to teach new Year 10 students six months of missed Year 9 course content first. Do over-learn, with regular, no-stakes tests to embed knowledge and build confidence and mastery. Crucially, teach what needs to be taught now and scaffold knowledge and skills “just in time.”
A document that has garnered interest, originating from the US, is the Learning Acceleration Guide published by TNTP. Like anything, you’ll not want to swallow it wholesale, but it does give a range of sensible suggestions, including those set out above. The main thrust is that we should not panic about teaching new material, as if the students will never be ready for it. Instead, teaching new and necessary material, if scaffolded, can prompt memory of previous learning and help students “catch up” by stealth, rather than by “remedial action” that brings their learning up to speed to where they should have been, rather than where they could be now. This is clearly a leading attribute of the challenging classroom at any time in history, pre- or post-COVID.
2.Be bold with remote learning – “homework” could be transformed.
You may have found yourself cursing Zoom, Loom, Vidyard, Microsoft Teams or Google Classroom at several stages over lockdown; or you may have been excited to learn how to use them, because you had to. Most likely, like me, you felt both. But I can’t complain any longer that I don’t have time to learn about “flipped learning”. For those students with access to a laptop, we should continue to experiment with how far we can enable students to work independently and with each other. Again, this is an opportunity for us to make a virtue of necessity.
At our school, and I’m sure at yours, our departments have put in place planning and resources that can be both taught in the classroom and remotely. A lot of labour has been put into producing packs of work. For the more able students, however, we mustn’t stop offering exciting invitations to push their interest further.
For the last two years, I’ve been able to group the most able students by subject and year cohort and set them up to research and write up their own projects, guided by their interest. I have been impressed and inspired by how well I could trust students to be “entrepreneurial” in their independent work, supported pretty minimally by caring subject specialists, but a lot by each other. We use Microsoft Teams to enable this, and I would point you to Amy Clark’s blog post on this topic for further possibilities in using Teams. See too, the recorded NACE webinar on using technological platforms to develop independence (member login required).
Our students, in these times and in all times, should be putting in at least as much creative labour as their teachers. A remarkable result of more enforced student independence is how much more we can trust them to adapt, re-combine and invent new responses to the information and tasks we give them. Many students, at all key stages, are adept at using technology in a way that most of their teachers haven’t been.
Consider, too, how you can use technology to gather student voice so that you know how your most able students are faring; and even better, garner suggestions from them of how they would like to extend the curriculum, so that they feel they have a say in the direction of educational travel. As always, these students’ insights into their experiences of teaching and learning bring us priceless information on what’s going well and what’s not. Online platforms make this process so much easier now.
3.“Humanity first” – but that doesn’t necessarily mean “teaching second”.
Barry Carpenter’s work on the very notion of a “recovery curriculum” has received widespread coverage among school leaders and teachers. At one stage in his talk for the Chartered College of Teaching, Carpenter urged teachers to “walk in with your humanity first, and your teaching skills second.” In the context of the therapeutic, wellbeing-centred vision for recovery from the shocks and anxieties of the last year, this clearly makes sense. With more able students in mind, however, and especially the exceptionally able students we teach, we must remember that study is an intrinsic part of their humanity: they are one and the same thing.
Again, then, crisis reveals what is already present. Our more able students will still need to know, in their relationships with their teachers and with supportive peers, that it is cool to be clever, interesting to be interested, exciting to be excited by the discoveries involved in learning. They do not need to be glum, or despair that they have stopped learning, because we can be confident that we are always learning if we have a mind to, and seek – as Dr Matthew Williams advocates – to turn work into study.
Those interesting questions that we pose; that palpable delight in our own subject interest; those personalised phrases of praise; the hints and foretastes of exciting future study and work – all those confident connection-points with our more able students are always vital, and continue to be so as we all move forward into an uncertain “first term back”. I found at the end of the summer term, teaching small bubble-groups of sixth formers, that they were desperate to talk and explore what was going on. So was I! This is clearly no surprise. The teaching skill required here will be to move between the personal and the abstract, as it always is in pedagogy worth the name.
Our most able students often think and feel things at a greater intensity. Managing this intensity with the general intensity of the overall experience of socially distanced schooling will take skill and humanity – but we as teachers are not in uncharted waters here: it is what we do under normal circumstances, too.
Join the conversation: NACE member meetup, 10 September 2020
Join secondary leaders and practitioners from across the country on 10 September for an online NACE member meetup exploring approaches to the recovery curriculum and beyond. The session will open with a presentation from NACE Associate Neil Jones, followed by a chance to share approaches and ideas with peers, reflecting on some of the challenges and opportunities outlined above. Find out more and book your place.
Not yet a NACE member? Starting at just £95 +VAT per year, NACE membership is available for schools (covering all staff), SCITT providers, TSAs, trusts and clusters. Bringing together school leaders and practitioners across England, Wales and internationally, our members have access to advice, practical resources and CPD to support the review and improvement of provision for more able learners within a context of challenge and high standards for all. Learn more and join today.
NACE Challenge Award Adviser Elaine Ricks-Neal shares seven key questions to help schools, teams and departments review their use of digital learning and plan for continued development.
Recent events, through necessity, have catapulted schools into a change of existing practice to meet the challenges of remote learning. An interesting outcome has been the rapid increase in skills and confidence levels of many teachers in the use of digital learning technologies and with it a growing enthusiasm to explore the potential of technology to really transform the way we teach and how pupils learn. Through effective use of digital platforms, tools and apps, many schools have enabled pupils to access the curriculum in rich and engaging ways, signposting pupils to quality online resources they can use independently, encouraging collaborative learning and finding ways to personalise learning and feedback to pupils, often with the added bonus of greater involvement of parents in that process.
With this unprecedented level of teacher, pupil and also parental engagement with technology, is this now the time for schools to revisit their vision for digital learning, providing a structured opportunity for colleagues to reflect on what has worked well and next steps? Below are seven key questions for teachers, phase teams, departments and schools.
Note: Remember to keep the focus on the impact on learning; don’t be side-tracked by looking at digital resources in isolation.
1. What has worked well?
Set aside dedicated time to share the digital resources and approaches you have used, commenting on the quality of the materials and how they supported your learning objectives. What worked well? How do you know? What could be the next steps?
2.How can curriculum and lesson plans be adapted?
Look at curriculum plans and learning objectives and identify where in the planning phases you could use digital learning. Be clear about why and what the learning impact would be. For example, increased cognitive challenge and access to complex material in class and home learning? Developing pupil independence? Are there distinctive opportunities for your most able pupils?
3.How can we involve pupils as partners in digital learning development?
Discuss how you can explore the impact of approaches through consulting pupils about what they see as the benefits, possible pitfalls and opportunities of using technology to help them learn. How can the pupils’ own skills now be further developed? Consider setting up a focus group of able pupils to monitor the impact of new approaches.
4.Are there opportunities to work with parents more effectively?
Make the most of the high levels of recent parental engagement to consider any new opportunities presented by digital learning to help parents engage with and support their children’s learning at home and in school. Workshops on learning platforms and online resources available to support their child’s learning? Seeking their own views on the recent remote learning experience?
5.What are the digital skills that teachers now need to develop?
To build on newly grown/growing confidence levels, identify future skills and CPD needs individually, as a department, and as a school.
6.Do we now want to revisit our vision and policy?
Use the discussions as a basis to revisit your teaching and learning, more able and/or other relevant school policies. Is the vision for the use of technology to impact on teaching and learning fully articulated and agreed by all colleagues? Do you want to add new commentary on aims or provision?
7.How do we plan for continuous improvement?
Plan strategically from your discussions, integrating your action points into school improvement plans, and being clear about how the actions will be implemented, resourced and reviewed for impact.
The review discussion can feed into the broader whole-school vision of the transformative potential of technology to drive innovation and create autonomous learners who have the digital skills which are vital in today’s world.
Coming soon: new guidance on digital learning and the NACE Challenge Framework
Element 3 of the NACE Challenge Framework focuses on curriculum, teaching and support; it includes a requirement for schools to audit how effectively their vision for using technology translates into improved daily practice within and outside the classroom. In the autumn term, a new Digital Learning Review and Forward Planning Tool will be available for schools working with the Challenge Framework to support a review of current policy and provision in the use of digital learning.
Posted By The Bromfords School & Sixth Form College,
03 July 2020
Amy Clark, Assistant Headteacher for Quality of Education, explains how The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College has used Microsoft Teams to support both students and staff – delivering remote learning, pastoral support and peer-led CPD.
Being thrust into the world of remote learning has galvanised us to dig deep as a profession and do what we do best: find ways to make learning enjoyable – even in the toughest of times. At The Bromfords School, a small group of us had already been trialling the use of Microsoft Teams with our sixth form pupils to enhance the provision they were receiving, with the focus on enabling students to participate in a learning-rich environment without having to be in the classroom. Students loved having access to a digital learning space, outside of school, that they could use to have academic debates on key topics, share links to wider reading or resources and generally support each other in a collaborative way.
We also saw Teams as a way for staff to share best practice CPD. We all know what happens when you attend an amazing INSET day or twilight session; you eventually find time to do planning and create some wonderful resources that you share with colleagues, but they get lost amongst the mass of emails, meaning the brilliant work done often gets lost. The plan was to use Microsoft Teams to provide a specific space for professional dialogue about teaching and learning, where teachers could share resources, upskill each other and continue to develop as professionals.
Then along came COVID-19 and thrust our plans forward…
Using Teams for academic, pastoral and peer support
Even though the timeline for rolling out Microsoft Teams across the school was sped up, our staff certainly rose to the challenge. Whilst Teams isn’t the only software we have used to communicate remote learning to students, it is quickly becoming a space that students use for both academic and pastoral purposes.
Tutor group channels were set up on Teams for every year group, where tutors have been able to ‘check in’ each week with pupils. This has ensured that students’ academic needs are met, that students have access to advice should they need it, but most importantly, tutors could keep track of students’ mental wellbeing. Open lines of communication meant that if a child was struggling, we could support them. Students didn’t know how to work remotely, how to organise their time or how to be self-motivated; our use of Teams has provided them with methods for easy communication with an adult they are familiar with on a daily basis.
We hope that by having the lines of communication open to students and having a compulsory check-in each week, the bridge between students working in isolation at home and returning back into the building is eased and that that we are able to lower anxiety for our students.
Our Teams CPD channel has supported staff not only in developing their IT skills to enable the best possible provision for students, but also in accessing a range of ideas they might not have come across before. Our channel has ‘How to…’ videos on topics including the use of narrated PowerPoints, quizzes or forms on Teams, how to use ‘assignments’ within Teams and mark these using a rubric to give feedback on the work completed, to name just a few. Staff have also shared information on how to create drop-down and tick-boxes in Microsoft Word, where to go to get icons for dual coding, methods for increasing student engagement and other concepts that will improve remote learning.
Even staff members who are self-proclaimed ‘technophobes’ have been able to develop their IT skills to ensure the digital learning process for our pupils is as strong as it can be. The channel has enabled everyone to feel like we are all in this process together, all learning together – and nothing is as daunting when you have others by your side.
Five core principles for effective remote learning
As a school, we were keen to ensure we were catering to the needs of all our pupils during this time, with our more able students being a key focus. We wanted to ensure the provision offered to this group remained high quality so they were able to continue to be challenged academically – avoiding the dreaded generic worksheet, a one-size-fits-all approach. We also found that many of our more able were struggling with managing workload, which developed increased levels of anxiety.
A group of leaders and I developed what we felt were the five core principles of remote learning and delivered this to staff through CPD meetings, to ensure our more able students were academically and emotionally supported.
We felt that remote learning should be:
Concrete: it should have a clear purpose and learning intent that fits with the wider curriculum. There should also be clear timings for tasks so that students do not spend excessive amounts of time on projects.
Inclusive: consider how you stretch your most able students by providing links to wider reading, podcasts, challenge tasks or breadth of choice such as presentation methods.
Considerate: taking into consideration students’ learning environments and access to materials they could need. Also planning tactically so that students do not become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work expected of them.
Reflective: students should have feedback at key points and self-assessment opportunities through sharing clearly defined success criteria.
Engaging: staff should incorporate a range of learning activities and software to avoid students becoming demotivated. Also focusing on mechanisms for praise so that students know their hard work is being recognised.
The concepts here are not new. But when staff are also dealing with the pressures and anxiety a COVID-19 teaching world presents, it is a timely reminder that the core principles of teaching must remain so that students can continue to succeed. The five core principles listed above all aim not only to enrich the remote learning a student receives, but also take into consideration students’ mental wellbeing too.
When we return to school, I hope the lessons learnt from using technology during this time do not get lost. Many members of staff have told me how much they have enjoyed using Microsoft Teams to support learning and how they will continue to use it moving forward, particularly to aid collaborative work with peers and to support home learning. Our eyes have been opened to the potential of this technology in supporting and enriching the curriculum for more able students though many of the methods listed above. It has certainly provided both staff and students with a very different learning experience, with the potential to continue to enrich learning beyond the classroom for students and increase enjoyment in developing pedagogy for staff.
NACE Education Adviser Hilary Lowe explores the challenges of “lockdown learning”, how schools are responding, and what lessons could be learned to improve provision for all young people both now and in the years to come.
We have been submerged with COVID-19 stories. But very few of those have told the tale of what is happening to thousands of young people whose lives have been disrupted and delayed or of their teachers who have been keeping calm and carrying on, often going to extraordinary lengths to try to ensure continuity and quality in those young people’s education.
NACE too has been trying to run business as usual wherever possible, working with members and colleagues to find creative and innovative ways of serving the school community in immediate practical ways. We have also been planning for possible future scenarios in the way we work with schools and others involved in supporting the education of highly able young people. We know that things may never be quite the same again. We could even go so far as to hazard that many of the changes we are seeing in the way schools and national organisations are supporting young learners in lockdown are heralding a new age in education.
Could this be the watershed in the paradox of a pandemic that has shut down many forms of normal life which will usher in some of the radical changes pundits are predicting might emerge in other areas of social and economic activity? Could this be the time we move from what is still in many ways the Victorian order of schooling to a new order for the 21st century? An order which connects the best of what we know about how we learn and what we need materially to learn – and how we teach, with the benefits of technology and informed by the needs of society and the individual in the uncertain years to come.
Facing up to the cracks and gaps in the current system
It has been both fascinating and humbling to hear how NACE member schools have moved with great alacrity from largely classroom-based learning to providing schooling, including pastoral support, from a distance. This has often been – although not of course exclusively – from a low base of technological skills and hardware and little training in designing distance learning.
We know with even greater certainty than we did before that young people’s home environments are not always conducive to good learning. We also know that millions of young people do not have access to the technology and basic resources which could support their learning and wellbeing at a distance. The deep cracks in social and economic equity are becoming even more obvious to teachers whose profession at its noblest aims to develop young people to aspire to be the best that they can be. Recent reports from the Sutton Trust, amongst others, attest to the ongoing deep social divisions with which we are already familiar and to the emerging impacts of the pandemic learning lockdown on young people, not only on their achievement but also on their aspirations (Sutton Trust, 2020).
Acknowledging the stark picture painted by the Sutton Trust research on pupil engagement and the capacity of schools to deliver distance learning, we know through contact with our member schools and through our two recent online member meetups that there are both state schools and independent schools making things work despite the odds. NACE has been privileged to be able to gather a wealth of knowledge about both what is working well in supporting learning at home and what is proving most challenging.
Challenges and concerns
Lack of engagement from learners and parents
Lack of technologies and resources at home
Marking and feedback
Accelerating and monitoring progress for all learners
Learner choices and future decisions e.g. options, post-16, post-18
Future behaviours and engagement when back in school
Growing ‘disadvantage gaps’ and how to manage/remediate
Supporting learners with additional, particular needs e.g. SEND
More able learners who are socially disadvantaged
More able learners affected by the pressure they put on themselves or excessive pressure from parents
Transitions and transition points e.g. Years 6 and 13
Negative effects on mental health and wellbeing
Realities of what can be achieved at home
Teacher capacity and skills
What’s working?
Clear, consistent cross-school strategy regarding distance learning and learner contact
Systematic approaches with checks and monitoring
Making expectations clear to learners and parents (e.g. parental guidance and communication apps)
Different models according to need, age, experience of online learning, populations, access to technology and resources e.g. some schools delivering a “normal” timetable of lessons virtually; some providing a mix of timetabled lessons, extended projects, suggested downtime activities; some schools delivering individualised learning packs to pupils’ homes
Many schools favour a mix of online and offline learning
Some schools are trying to tailor provision to individual needs e.g. more able learners having access to appropriately challenging resources, guest speakers, debates and projects which involve higher level skills and knowledge
Some schools are prioritising language development and reading as a priority
In the best of cases schools plan home learning according to best practice in effective learning and effective distance learning e.g. retrieval/recall, use/application, new learning etc; judicious use of what can be learned without too much scaffolding; sometimes readjusting planned schemes and schedules of work; allotting “transition time” for catch-up and individual support
Some schools are trying to connect current distance learning to future work to be undertaken when school restarts
Emphasis on motivation and keeping learners engaged e.g. feedback, praise and rewards, competitions
Emphasis on supporting wellbeing and mental health
Regular contact via email/text and phone e.g. once a week and sometimes once a day for more vulnerable groups
Platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Classroom enable greater participation and interaction, peer-to-peer and peer-to-teacher
For more insights into how schools are responding to current challenges, watch the recordings of our recent virtual member meetups:
Secondary session (28 April 2020)
Primary session (29 April 2020)
What lasting improvements will be made?
In addition to considering how the many and significant challenges will be addressed, it is interesting to speculate on what will be taken forward from all the excellent practice we have seen being developed. Even more interesting might be to speculate on the more radical consequences of the current period on how we teach and learn in future, not only to be ready for further periods of uncertainty but perhaps because we have glimpsed and exercised approaches that might simply allow to do things better for all our young people. Perhaps we have also glimpsed ways in which we as educators would prefer to approach our profession, learning and development.
To conclude then, here are a few future schooling scenarios. Some are more readily doable and could in the short-term help to mitigate the educational damage currently being wrought. Some will require more radical changes in thinking and resourcing at a national level. It is encouraging that we are seeing in this country at least a recognition of and the opening of a debate about how to alleviate some of the collateral damage produced by the present schooling situation and the educational inequalities it is making more visible.
Future scenarios:
Every child in school ensured access to appropriate education technology (basic internet access in every home with school-aged children?)
Schools open longer as “learning hubs”, equipped and resourced to support children’s and parents’ learning and wellbeing
Priority given to developing parental and community engagement
School structures and timetables to allow greater tailoring of learning and greater personalisation e.g. through mixed-mode learning, time for one-to-one, consolidation etc
A major focus in all schools on high-level language development, reading and cultural capital
Emphasis on development of metacognition, independent learning and study skills
Planned opportunities for all learners, including the more able, to learn and be assessed at appropriate levels and points in their learning
School staff trained in designing online learning and assessment in conjunction with evidence-based classroom pedagogies
Greater use of technology for professional dialogue, planning and CPD
As well as responding to the current situation through increased online CPD, resources and guidance, NACE is planning additional ways to support schools and more able learners in the medium- and long-term. As always, this will include listening to what members are telling us about what they need, encouraging more schools to join the NACE community, and making our voice heard at policy levels and with partner organisations to ensure that learners, including the most able, are at the heart of any educational change and improvement.
What would be most useful for you and your school this term? Complete this short survey to help shape our response.
Blog Home
All Blogs
Print Page
RSS
